Some notes on secularism, secularisation and Islam: I

Part I: Introduction
Most, if not all, modern discourse on Islam rests on the following notion: to what extent can 'Islam' be 'secularised'?

The reason why is not hard to see: in order for Muslims to match the undoubted advantage of 'the West', they must follow what happened in 'the West'. That is, they must 'secularise'.

Sadly, the Muslim response is either one of unquestioned acquiesce to this Euro-centric view, or to rail against it in the form of 'Islamist politics', a culture which is often full of rage and anger. Even worse, segments of Islamist politics is very often demagoguery by another name.

But the former, the Muslim 'modernist' or 'secularist', is much worse, in my opinion. For at least the latter has allowed some sort of emotional attachment to Islam and Islamic history, even if the extreme fringes of this group often promote a form political and moral nihilism. The former, however, seeks to conduct a botched transplant, and impose the blandest of edificies, under the guise of 'modernisation'; namely those we can call 'Westernisms' [1]. The crudity of these two positions is not something which is new. Shibli Num'ani noted as much in his travels across the Muslim world. [2]

The main point of this post is merely to look at a few issues relating to secularism, secularisation and its relationship with Islam, and the Muslim community.

One of the most fumdamental points, we are told, is that 'secularism' actually confers on society a 'value-neutral' stance. That is, there is no 'bias' which is often the case when religious views meet on the 'battlefield' of ideas (that different religions do, and have, clashed is true). Secularism, it is said, confers upon society 'progress', 'modernisation' and a more 'sceintific' outlook, helping to rationalise, at least partly, the foundations upon which it stands. In addition, it is often suggested that religion in public life causes 'stagnation', and the 'culture' produced from this 'stagnation' cannot meet the challanges they face today.

But is that the case?

What is overlooked, is the ideological baggage which 'secularisation', especially in the Muslim world, has come to carry. Secularism, as an '-ism', is more than the mere 'seperation of church and state'. Secularism, as an '-ism', becomes a world view. A better definition of secularism is 'a sphere of knowledge, values and action, which is free from religious authority'. In other words it is a theory of truth. Just as the 'secular' physical sciences provide us with 'truths' about the world, then 'secularism', can provide us with a set of norms, values and ethics, which can help us live our life.

But it is 'secularisation', which is better defined as a practical process, in which secularism as ideology manifests itself. 'Secularisation' sees itself as a process, primarily of history, in which the social, political and ecnomic institutions of society are freed from 'ecclesiastical authority'. Practically then, secularisation involves the removal of 'ecclesiatical authority' over the education system (the social level), the consfication of church lands (the economic level), the seperation of the state from the church (the political level), and so on. Yet secularism also manifests itself as a 'culture', a state of mind. This is referred to as 'secularity'. In fact, secularism even manifests itself as an 'ethical' code: secular humanism could be construed as one such attempt. [3]

The main points to consider, therefore, are:

i. Secularism vis-a-vis Islam.
ii. Secularisation of Islam.
iii. The concept of 'the secular' in Islamic history.

Notes
[1] See Fazlur Rahman, Islam, 2nd Edition, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979, among others by the author.

[2] See Muhammad Sibli Nu'mani, Safarnama (Travels), Lahore: Ghulam Ali and Sons, 1961.

[3] See the following post to this series for sources (following soon insha'Allah). For a sharp rebuttal of secularism and secularisation, which verges on the polemical, but nonetheless an essential read, see S. Parvez Manzoor, "Desacralizing Secularism", In: Islam and Secularism in the Middle East, Azzam Tamimi, John L. Esposito (Eds.), C. Hurst & Co, 2000. Also available online.

Comments

[razib]

well, i suspect that you are going to mention this, but your concept of secularization seems to owe a lot to the sort of anti-clerical movement that was/is common in catholic europe and latin america. it is less appropriate in the anglo-spheric (and germanic) countries, especially ones like england which have an established church. though i tend to agree (speaking as an atheist of muslim origin) that 'modernists' are shallow and superficial-how do you mean they are much worse? after all, ineffectual soulless modernists are far less likely to engage in violence. of course, you could argue that the baathist and arabist movements are modernist, and they have plenty of blood on their hands. and interesting, i do believe they draw from continental philosophical sources, which were often anti-clerical (though not always, as that gets confused on the european fascist Right).

[Maryam]

Very interesting post Thebit. I do hope you develop this theme further because I think it is at the heart of the so-called "Islam vs. The West" clash, although secularism has been a force in the Muslim world since colonial times.

I would define modernism a little differently (as a phenomenon in the sphere of Muslim scholarship) than you've hinted at, so I'd really like to see you define what you mean here a bit more.

The biggest 'worry' I have is secularised education (which is why my husband and I are considering homeschooling). As Syed Ali Ashraf says(1), human beings operate at a holistic level and to ignore 'spiritual' training and divorce it from 'skills' training is to fracture the human being. It is precisely because we need spiritual training so that we can implement morals and ethics in our political, social and economic aspects that we desperately need to reject the secularisation of education.

Part of countering secularisation is dealing with the secularist accusation that faith-based activity is doctrinaire and biased. As you say, though, secularism is it's own ideology.

(1) Ashraf, Syed Ali, "Editorial: Can University Education be anything but Liberal?", Muslim Education Quarterly, Syed Ali Ashraf (ed)., Vol. 2, No. 1, (Cambridge: The Islamic Academy, 1993) 1-2.

[Andrew Reeves]

You are right, of course. Secularism and pluralism *cannot* exist together with either Christianity or Islam. Either the religion itself becomes compromised and gives way to unbelief (as has happened with Christianity) or the religion drives out pluralism and imposes the proper sort of belief on the people at large (as is currently happening with Islam). Sadly, though, the implications of this are a never-ending three-way war between Christianity, Islam, and Secularism until the world has been scoured clean of two of the three. I wish like hell that you were wrong, that one could believe in Islam/Christianity and pluralism. As it stands now, the twenty-first century is going to be long and bloody, in all likelihood ending with the victory of Islam.

[Thebit]

Thanks for your comments, Razib, Maryam and Andrew. Some interesting points, well made.

Sadly, I will not be in a position to respond till sometime next week, because I have to be out of town with work.

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